The Constitutional Review of Dissolving or Discharging the Local Government Units in Albania

The European continent now recognizes three types of vertical state organization, the federal, regional and unitary system. The latest form of organization has been selected by the Republic of Albania under the Constitution of 1998 but paying attention that this unitary form of the state should be based on the principle of decentralization and the autonomy of local government. However, as the practice shows today, very often, local government units have the tendency which exceed certain powers defined for them in the constitution and law , and in some places there is clear separatist tendencies aimed at the secession by the state. Precisely, in order to avoid these kinds of situations and to maintain the unitary form of the state, the Constitution of the Republic of Albania provides a control mechanism that allows the Council of Ministers to dissolve/discharge the local authorities, as well as, the right of the latter to complain to the Constitutional Court and to challenge the validity of this act. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the Albanian jurisprudence and doctrine that addresses this issue. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p58